Leekes to quit flagship store in Coventry

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Leekes to quit flagship store in Coventry

Postby dutchman » Sat Nov 18, 2017 2:08 am

Leekes shocks staff with Coventry superstore closure but will complete customer orders

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Home department chain Leekes is to quit its flagship store in Coventry after agreeing a deal to sell the vast site just off the A444.

The family-owned business has broken the news to “shocked” staff that the superstore will shut its doors for the last time in mid-January and promised to fulfil customers’ existing orders.

It did not specify if any jobs were at risk but praised staff for their “extremely professional” response to the news. There were 110 people employed at the superstore, close to J3 of the M6, in 2013.

Leekes’ other stores, including in Bilston in the West Midlands, will continue to trade as normal.

Leekes blamed the closure on a lack of companies wanting concession space at what is currently its largest retail site, which has hosted a number of celebrity chefs. Leekes’ website says the store has more than “185,000 square feet and 300,000 products across 50 departments”.

The giant store was created when Leekes relocated from its Bedworth base to the former Makro distribution centre on the Gallagher Business Park. It had enjoyed double digit sales growth in recent years.

Managing director Emma Leeke said: “A challenging retail environment has resulted in the loss of a number of concession partners and in the absence of suitable replacements we began to consider options to sub-divide the building to enable us to look to share our site with a wider range of possible occupiers who could not be accommodated within our own in-store offer.

“We are in the process of contacting our current customers to confirm that the orders they have placed will be delivered as planned and guaranteed as normal with our head office able to answer any queries after the store closes in January.”

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Re: Leekes to quit flagship store in Coventry

Postby dutchman » Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:08 pm

Gridlock and queues for Leekes private sale

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Nearly 1,000 people queued up this morning to get into a private sale at Leekes.

The flagship furniture store off the A444 in Coventry is holding a huge closing down sale.

They have invited ‘private customers’ to the sale today and tomorrow, with the sale going public on Friday.

The sale includes furniture, lighting, ex-display kitchens and bathrooms, Christmas lines, gifts and much more from leading brands at drastically reduced prices - but not everyone was happy with the discounts.

This morning it was travel chaos on the roads as 800 people flocked to the sale before the store even opened.

Motorists were stuck in traffic of up to three miles on the M6 with congestion from junction one at Rugby up to junction three for the A444, and further queues on the A444.

A spokesman for Leekes said: “Customers gathered outside Leekes Coventry in their droves as the family owned home department store opened its doors for its £4million store closing sale.

“The car park was full before opening with over 800 customers queuing to be amongst the first to bag a bargain when the store opened at 10am.

“A special private sale is being held on Wednesday the 6th and Thursday the 7th of December from 10am to 9pm with the store then opening to the general public on Friday the 8th of December from 10am to 8pm.

“The store will be closed from 6pm on Wednesday the 20th of December for the Christmas period.

“The store then re-opens for the final clearance of its remaining stock from Wednesday the 27th of December until the last day of trading on the 14th of January 2018.”

mma Leeke, managing director at Leekes said, “After five years of trading in Coventry we made the difficult business decision to close the Coventry store.

“A sale has been agreed which will bring new job opportunities to the area once the new occupier has taken over the site.

“We have been overwhelmed by the response from our customers about our decision and would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their custom over the years – and hope they can join us at some point during our closing down sale.”

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